diff --git a/src/operations.cpp b/src/operations.cpp
index 8809f5c..40a68e8 100644
--- a/src/operations.cpp
+++ b/src/operations.cpp
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ using std::wstring;
 #   else
 #     include <sys/utime.h>
 #   endif
+#   include <sys/stat.h>
 
 //  REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER related definitions are found in ntifs.h, which is part of the 
 //  Windows Device Driver Kit. Since that's inconvenient, the definitions are provided
@@ -1284,16 +1285,13 @@ namespace detail
       : path_stat.st_size == 0;
 #   else
 
-    WIN32_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DATA fad;
-    if (error(::GetFileAttributesExW(p.c_str(), ::GetFileExInfoStandard, &fad)== 0,
-      p, ec, "boost::filesystem::is_empty"))
-        return false;
-
-    if (ec != 0) ec->clear();
-    return 
-      (fad.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY)
-        ? is_empty_directory(p)
-        : (!fad.nFileSizeHigh && !fad.nFileSizeLow);
+    struct _stat path_stat;
+    if (error(::_wstat(p.c_str(), &path_stat) != 0,
+        p, ec, "boost::filesystem::is_empty"))
+      return false;
+    return ((path_stat.st_mode & _S_IFDIR) != 0)
+      ? is_empty_directory(p)
+      : path_stat.st_size == 0;
 #   endif
   }